The Time of the Talent Wars

Future Forward

RECRUIT, RETAIN

The University or Maryland designed a futuristic locker room (below) as part of an effort to attract top athletes. Companies are doing the same kinds of things with their office spaces. The American Society of Interior Designers' new Washington headquarters (opposite page) leverages plants, natural light, and open spaces to keep workers healthy and happy.

IN 1997, MCKINSEY & COMPANY PUBLISHED A SEMINAL PAPER called “The War for Talent.” The paper projected that over the following 20 years companies, to be successful, would have to fight for the best workers, treating them as critical cogs in the corporate success machine. Those 20 years have now passed. So have we reached an armistice in the great war for workers? Hardly.

People matter now more than they ever have, and the fight for the top-of-the-line talent, from the front-line workers to the C-suite, has only gotten tougher. Or, to some, impossible. One Fast Company story recently declared, “The War for Talent is Over and Everyone Lost.”

DeLinda Washington, vice president of human resources for Kaiser Permanente Foundation Health Plan in Washington, might disagree. She says that even in the ultra-competitive, and very tight Greater Wash- ington job market, the war for talent is neither over nor unwinnable. In fact, Washington says there are several ways to start winning the war. For instance:

KNOW YOUR EMPLOYEES and prepare to guide them. “Make an employee profile that identifies each of your employee’s aspirations,” Washington says. “Find out how they want to be rewarded and find ways to match that.” She advises organizations to focus on purpose-driven work that clearly shows workers why the jobs they do matter.

CREATE A PLAN for recruitment and retention and set metrics for success. “You have metrics for your sales goals, you have metrics for your revenue goals,” Washington says. “What are your metrics for retaining your top talent?” She advises companies to create a specific, written plan for recruitment and retention and make sure all department leaders know it and are actively engaged in it.

PREPARE TO BE FLEXIBLE . “Workers today,” Washington says, “will tell you that, ‘If I do my best work from 11-9, why should I be at my desk from 9-5?’” Younger workers also may want an option to choose a benefits plan that doesn’t put money into retirement but instead helps them pay off student loans.

CREATE AN ONGOING PIPELINE of qualified candidates, leveraging Greater Washington’s educational institutions. “We have more than 50 universities in our area,” Washington says. “And yet each year, students graduate here with no idea where they’re going to get their first job. We have a great opportunity here to identify who is out there at the college level and to recruit them.”

SUBSIDIES MATTER. “Here in the Greater Washington area, the federal government pays top talent for tuition,” Washington says. That’s a competitive advantage other companies here are often asked to match. Less costly

One Important Trend

“Investors are saying they’d rather go further afield in secondary and tertiary markets — in the suburbs,” says Joe Stettinius, chief executive, Americas brokerage and capital markets at Cushman & Wakefield in Washington. “They believe the opportunities today are in the smaller markets. That is a fundamental shift in how intuitional investors see commercial real estate. It means that 2018 is going to be a suburban story. That’s the first time we’ve been able to say that in 25 years.” subsidies include offering Metro farecards to workers. “That can be a little thing financially,” Washington says. “But it means a lot to your employees. And they know when other companies are providing it and you’re not.”

BE STRATEGIC, yes. But also, be flexible. “One size does not fit all,” in recruitment and retention, Washington says. “So don’t be afraid to innovate when it comes to people.”

PAY CLOSE ATTENTION to the places where people work. “One key to retention is the SWAG that your facility can have,” Washington says.

Ken Wiseman, design principal with CannonDesign’s Washington office, agrees with that. He believes organizations today need to go all out — including remaking their physical spaces to attract the best workers. “The war for talent is more aggressive now than ever,” he says.

To help recruit and retain corporate talent, Wiseman’s firm has worked on dozens of offices around the country. They’ve opened physicians’ offices to natural surroundings and created hotel-style spaces for companies where many workers are frequently on the road and desks are often left empty.

They’ve also done a lot of work on campuses to help colleges recruit students and athletes. Wiseman’s firm is now building a new, high-tech locker room for the football team at the University of Maryland. There, lockers spiral around a central atrium that’s meant to evoke a turtle shell shape. Each locker has a video screen featuring the athlete who uses it. Multicolored LED lights on the ceiling guide players out from under the shell and onto the playing field.

Wiseman’s firm also worked on a revamp of the University of the District of Columbia’s student center, creating a building with open floorplans, soaring windows, and connected spaces that draw students together. The design charge, “was all about showing, we care about our people and we put our people first,” he says, adding that many colleges are making similar changes — and changing their students’ expectations in the process. “If you graduate from campuses like this,” Wiseman says, “what kind of office do you want to work in?”

The Opportunity To win the ongoing war for talent, companies can create detailed programs for finding, cultivating, and retaining top talent. Companies can also recreate their physical spaces, building workplaces that foster creativity and better appeal to the workers of tomorrow.

Future Forward

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